A blog dedicated to the discussion of topics relating to the history of Sandusky and Erie County, Ohio, the Lake Erie Islands, and nearby communities; inspired by the collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center and Follett House Museum. A service of the Sandusky Library.

Friday, April 01, 2011

Sandusky Junior High School Served as a Community Center

The Sandusky City School building located at 318 West Madison Street was dedicated on February 26, 1928 as Sandusky Junior High School. In 1957, after the new high school had been built, it became known as Jackson Junior High School. This school building housed the eighth graders of Sandusky City Schools until 2009. From the late 1920’s through the 1940’s, the auditorium and gymnasium of the Sandusky Junior High served as a community center, hosting banquets, lectures, concerts, and meetings.

During the late 1920’s and early 1930’s an annual Gym Show was presented by Junior High School students.

In May of 1929 the gymnasium exhibition featured marching, callisthenic drills, tumbling, and many other forms of exercise. Students also demonstrated lifesaving skills, dives, and races in the swimming pool of the Junior High.

A Food Show was held on October 29-31, 1935 at Sandusky Junior High, under the auspices of the local Home Service Stores. Area stores and organizations displayed goods and equipment for use in the home kitchen. Tickets were given away free at any Home Service Store, and children were to be accompanied by adults at all times.

Other events held at the Junior High included an Art Show

and a musical revue entitled the “Flying Varieties,” produced by the Special Service Branch of the Air Service Command Headquarters to promote the sale of war bonds in July of 1944.

Today a wide variety of convention centers are found in Sandusky, Cleveland, and Toledo, to host conventions, meetings, and banquets, but in the first half of the twentieth century, Sandusky Junior High School was an ideal spot for such events.

2 comments:

ron schneider
said...

On Halloween back in the 40's they would have a parade downtown with all the kids in costume. It would end at the school where they passed out candy, gave prizes for the best costumes and showed old old cartoons on a large movie screen